Paul Barton

Here's a helpful summary! TPOregs2012explanatorynote.pdf

This book is also good and a bit cheaper. Treesource Tree Care Practice

Which one Tony?

I think Dave is the only UK provider of Digiterra now. The only alternative is phone calls to Hungary! I use Digiterra with a MMCX or a MM100. The MM100 is a far superior machine for the relatively small difference in price. As PhilBeech says - if you already have a topo then you don't need an expensive sub-metre PDA...fine if you are doing development site surveys with topos. However, if you are doing other surveys for clients without maps it is well worth having an accurate GPS - especially if you export in to Google Earth as in inaccuracies are pretty obvious on aerial imagery!

Stunning. I would like to replace my crappy conservatory with an oakframed extension. Is that something you could do?

Very very sad. Christianity actually teaches monogamy and sex within marriage only. If these principles were actually practised AIDS wouldn't be spreading!

Ident and current British Standards plus legislation.

To address point (a), I would check with your insurer. Given the ease of storing large amounts of data on hard drives these days, I would suggest never deleting any of your reports! Personally I don't keep hard copies of reports but they are backed up multiple times.

Of course. I was merely pointing out that not all 'religious' people are paedophiles or murderers to add some balance to this conversation.

I certainly don't ignore or excuse the horrendous atrocities that have happened in 'the name of God'. Of course I have heard of these things, and there are still people that claim to be of the christian faith that do awful things. I consider them to be horrendously misguided and contrary to my interpretation of the christian faith. However (you knew there would be one!) I don't believe one can disregard believing in God because of the actions of some people. There have been and are a great many compassionate and loving Christians - let's consider people like William Wilberforce, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King, christian charities such as Christian Aid, Tearfund, CAFOD....not all people of faith are hell-bent (!) on religious wars and oppression, in fact they are working hard to try and repair broken societies. Possibly. Why don't you try it? I have cut down trees (dying trees) for clients with similar beliefs - once I was asked to place the tree spirit in a box left out for me by the owner.

To be fair, there has only been one thread on this forum so far enquiring how many Christians are on here - and it has had alot of interest and posts from atheists sharing there beliefs (or is it non-beliefs?!). Missionaries are motivated by a message that they believe is important enough to share. That's why it's often referred to as good news.

Atheists Meetup Groups - Atheists Meetups Atheists like to get together too by the looks of it! And I know quite a few Christians that don't particularly dig church or want to hang with other Christians. To draw a conclusion that people who believe in God only talk to each other because they are insecure is ridiculous. You don't believe in God - that's your decision. I will not accuse you of being arrogant or insecure because of it. Please show a little respect to others that have a different look on like from your own.

Hi David, In terms of monitoring the lean using 2 plum lines - this seems difficult to take accurate measurements from in my opinion (I may have not understood the method though). How do you physically measure the change over time? I would assume by measuring the horizontal distance between the lines? I recently measured the lean of a tree using a smartphone with a clinometer app (backed up with an actual clinometer to double-check). If you use a wooden baton to smooth out any bumps from the bark, and mark on the tree the location of the baton for next time, this seems to work ok.

Yes, I am a Christian.

Ah, so you are a wind-up merchant! Very funny pal.

I found the item by Matthew Wells (young and British by the way) on urban forest research in New York to be particularly inspiring.

Private jobs for yourself (i.e. your name is on the invoice/you take the cash) or private jobs that the council is doing?

I came across this useful paper about Ganoderma during a search - looks like a good read with some helpful tips on differentiating between the various species. It is only limited to the invasion of London Plane though... Schwarze and Ferner Ganoderma on trees.pdf

Good question but what are you trying to prove? LA tree teams are compliant (mostly on paper) and their route to compliance is funded by the taxpayer. Being fully compliant is alot about knowledge but also takes some cash!

How's it going James?

Hi all, I am looking for a contractor for some small tree works near Barnstaple. Is anyone on here near to that area? It's only a small job so not worth travelling far for. If you would be interested in quoting please let me know by PM. cheers, Paul

Gay cowboys?

The new British Standard on tree planting and establishment will be a very welcome addition - provided its any good! It's amazing how many of us tree professionals have little knowledge about planting. I certainly feel it has been glazed over during most of my arb education.

Thanks, I'll ask my colleague to ring you about it.

How has a thread about some tree work in Africa degenerated in to a discussion about the price of a prostitute? Personally I find it very bad taste. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive but I have spent time in Africa and seen the tragedy of poverty, prostitution and AIDS. This is/was a thread about a couple of weeks tree felling somewhere unusual for most of us...can we keep it about that? Rant over.